It may get hot in Imperial Valley but there is always a way through campus where students can walk in the shade.

Many of our students are the first in their families to be going to college. Our counselors and financial aid technicians are there to make sure our students...

Counseling and Financial Aid are central to a student's success at IVC. Many of our students are the first in their families to be going to college. Our counselors and financial aid technicians are there to make sure our students know what classes to take and get help to pay for their classes should they need it.

We
are now in receipt of the full letter from the Accrediting Commission for
Community and Junior Colleges. A full report is due back to the Commission in
March of next year, at which time they want us to address three
recommendations. This is a reduction from the eight that originally were
contained in the Team’s March evaluation report, which I have also attached for
your reference.

The
recommendations to be addressed:

Linkage
of Institutional Goals and Objectives from the Educational Master Plan
with our Operational Plan goals and resource allocations. This was
Recommendation 1 in the Team’s original report.

Add
a component detailing effectiveness in producing outcomes to our Student
Learning Outcome evaluations. This was Recommendation 7 in the Team’s original
report.

Develop
a fiscal strategy to have a balanced budget. This was Recommendation 8 in the
Team’s original report.

I
feel very good about the Commission’s action and I am confident we will meet or
exceed their recommendations and prove it to them next March. Meanwhile, I also
think it is important to keep this in context and remember that the Team also
had four commendations in its report to us.

While
all were significant, I want to note especially Commendation 3:

“It
was clear to the visiting team that despite the fiscal challenges the College
is overcoming, the central focus of the Board, administrators, faculty, staff
and students is educational quality, student success and achievement. This was
evident during team member interviews, observance of committee meetings, IVC
educational projects and communications, e.g., the College Catalog.”

Providing quality education is totally what we are about and it is very
gratifying that the Team recognized this. We will correct the shortcomings and
get even better at what we do.

INITIAL MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT JAIME:

We
received word Wednesday, just before our long weekend, that we are one of six
community colleges in the state that have been issued a “Warning” as the result
of the comprehensive accreditation evaluation conducted on campus last March.

While
this is officially a ‘sanction,’ it is basically what we had hoped for given
the fiscal challenges we have faced over the past several years. It is the
lowest sanction that is issued and really does not come as a surprise to any of
us.

We
remain fully accredited and will continue to work on the fiscal issues that
have faced our campus. The fact that a Vice President of the ACCJC was part of
our evaluation is unprecedented and truly shows the confidence the commission
has on our ability to provide quality education

Of
the 13 colleges that received full accreditation reviews, six were reaffirmed,
six were issued warnings and one was placed on probation. The commission also
voted to terminate accreditation of the City College of San Francisco which had
been placed on “Show Cause” status last year.

As
we all know, this could have been much worse. Again, I really want to thank all
who have been involved in this process. We have not yet received the full
letter from the commission, explaining the next steps but when it does arrive,
I will pass it on to the greater campus community.

For
your information, I am attaching the notification we received via email today.